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Large White Lump Growing Out of Side

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Housing
What size is your tank? 5 gallon
What temperature is your tank? 80 F
Does your tank have a filter? Yes
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? Yes
Is your tank heated? Yes
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? New Life Spectrum
How often do you feed your betta fish? About 10-12 pellets once a day

Maintenance
How often do you perform a water change? Once weekly
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? 50-75%
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Jungle Start Right with every change and add; Tetra Easy Balance once weekly with water changes; and Jungle Start Zyme once monthly

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Symptoms and Treatment
How has your betta fish's appearance changed? When I bought him in January I noticed a small oddity about his scales on the side of his body near his tail. At the time I thought maybe he had gotten into a fight with another fish when he was in the breeding facility and it was a scar. He was a Wal-Mart fish after all and I'm sure they don't use the best suppliers. Everything seemed fine, other than an occasional very small swelling in the area. As recently as a few days ago, a white "lump" for lack of a better word, has started breaking through his scales and is growing very slowly. He has also developed fin rot that has accelerated quickly.
How has your betta fish's behavior changed? Not very much. He was always a calm fish..well until I made the mistake of putting a snail in with him..may you rest in peace Gary. He has always just kind of hung out in the corners of the tank or behind the filter. I have noticed that he isn't swimming around as much, which I figured the lump may be painful as he occasionally twitches his head near his tail. In the last 12 hours has started staying near the bottom of the tank more but doesn't seem to have swimming problems to come up for air.
When did you start noticing the symptoms? Always had an odd "scar" in this area. Lump appeared within last few days.
Have you started treating your fish? No, however I had planned on starting 1 tsp/gallon AQ salt treatments tomorrow but wanted some advise here first to see if that would be a good idea with the lump. If so, how?
Does your fish have any history of being ill? No
How old is your fish (approximately)? Had since January, not sure of age when bought.20130918_012930.jpg20130918_012818.jpg20130918_012930.jpg20130918_012818.jpg

sorry about your betta. Hopefully one of our betta experts will chime in but it looks like a tumor to me. also, his abdomen seems exceptionally large which makes one wonder if he doesn't have some internal issue going on. And the fact that he'd listless and lying at the bottom are not good signs
Normally I couldn't suggest medication without knowing what's actually going on, since he seems to be going down hill, you could try worming him with Prazi-pro to see if that might address the bulging abdomen and also dose with Metro+ - an antibiotic that may or may not address the wound/tumor.

Hmmmm, do you soak your pellets by any chance? That's a lot of pellets for a betta....If you don't soak the pellets, that's an issue as well.

I'm leaning towards swim bladder issue, hence the blister in that area. He seems constipated as well and lying on the bottom also suggest an issue with the swim bladder. Secondary infection from stress allowed fin rot to take hold of him.

So, I'd suggest to deal with the constipation and the fin rot. The swim bladder should slowly resolve itself in due time if everything else is good.

Don't do the salt treatment. Although some epsom might help with constipation. Do keep the water clean and see if you can get your hands on maracyn 1 and 2.

Think with logic and rationality more than emotion. Act with moderation and consideration. Contemplate ideals and realistic goals and weigh out possibilities and options. Temper not with personal delusions or false hope but learn to accept and move on.

Sorry I probably should have mentioned that I fed him literally sixty seconds before I took the picture so his abdomen was a little big. The pellets are 1mm and 10-20 was the suggested manufactures directions. I had several people on another betta forum tell me they usually fed the same food to their bettas and they did 10-15 a day. His belly always goes down within 5 minutes of eating, usually after releasing some bubbles from his mouth. I don't soak my pellets as I have heard that can leak the nutrients out plus I have seen Weebles spit out pellets that have been sitting on top for a few mins, not sure if he likes the squishy feel or something?? Thank you both for your advice. I'm a little iffy on the swim bladder thing because he doesn't have ANY problems swimming or holding himself in a stable position in the water, whether top, bottom or middle of the tank. He has never lain on the bottom, like on the gravel, he just hovers about an inch above the gravel, but always perfectly level. I'm really worried about the fact that it is breaking through the scales, I can't find anything like it online anywhere.

I have not used either maracyn 1 and 2 but if Spardas says its good for treatment, I'm certain it is. I've had good luck with Metro+. Also, treating him with prazi pro which is very gentle should not hurt anything and will get rid of any internal worms should he have them. I worm my new fish as a matter of course with it.
Also as Spardas says, frequent water changes are important to treat the fin rot. And I'd cut back on the number of pellets you feed and split them up and feed 2X a day instead of once so he doesn't have so much to digest at one time.
again, good luck. he hope he comes around

I have a Betta with the same issue - he has had it going on 6 months and the tumor is now the size of a pea. It is at the start of the tail fins and otherwise looks the same as yours, just bigger.

Speaking strictly for mine - I don't think he has any internal issues, it is plainly a tumor. He behaved normally until just about a week ago. He now swims less and after a rest, he seems to be quite irritated when he starts swimming. This settles after a couple of rounds through the tank.

Since he started being less active and showing some discomfort, I have been thinking about putting him down, he was a happy fish for a long time and there is no removing a tumor. His aquarium is on my desk, where I see him all day. I don't want him suffering... I have no idea how to put him down though. :(

Btw, mine started just as a little bump until it broke the skin, then it turned into a white lump. I looked at it with a magnifying glass and it's granular - looks just like a human tumor. Unfortunately I have had occasion to study up on human tumors - no, it's not me who has one.

With apologies to the op - Glofish, if you plan on putting your betta down, there are many methods. Some put them in a baggie of water and slip them in the freezer where they just go to sleep. to me this seems long and painful but I know it's often done with kindness in mind.
Others boil a pan of water and drop the fish in - instant death - difficult to carry out as it seems a bit barbaric. Others chop the head off. Quick, painless but again, difficult to carry out if you're attached to the fish.
Whatever you do, don't flush it. You want to make certain the euthanasia is complete.
here's a link to an article on how to humanly euthanize a fish that includes some other options..http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/articles/81

Thanks for the reply and sorry for hijacking the thread - I thought the OP may glimpse something from my situation that may help. My Betta looks quite cheerful this morning and is active and appears to feel fine, and while that is the case, he is of course going to stay right here. But sooner or later I will have to act. Thanks for the link, it's good to know what I will have to do when the time comes.

Given that he has had this for a long time, I don't think this is a malignant tumor, but even benign ones will eventually cause trouble and pain. The OP's looks about the same, just earlier on. Tumors can grow in any direction, mine seems to be sitting completely on top, i.e. on the outside, and hence the fish is still enjoying life without internal issues. This may or may not be the case with the OP...so it's really hard to give advice. If nothing else, my fish will eventually lose balance as he carries quite a weight in a place where none belongs. I wish the Op all the best - this is not easy to watch.

Thanks Glofish, I feel the same way...I dont want to have to put down my fish but I dont want them to suffer either...for now Weebs seems to be doing fine it just looks awful, I've been keeping on eye on it to make sure it doesn't go fuzzy or anything like that but I really doubt its parasites due to the assumption that if he has them bad enough to be busting out his side that he would not have lasted this long but I could be wrong...at this point I'm going to change the water 50% every two days to try to help the fin rot and just keep my fingers crossed with the "tumor" issue..good luck Glofish and def post if you find anything else out